A mysterious lab. A sinister scientist. A secret history. If you think you know the truth behind Elevenโs mother, prepare to have your mind turned Upside Down in this thrilling prequel to the hit show Stranger Things.
Itโs the summer of 1969, and the shock of conflict reverberates through the youth of America, both at home and abroad. As a student at a quiet college campus in the heartland of Indiana, Terry Ives couldnโt be further from the front lines of Vietnam or the incendiary protests in Washington.
But the world is changing, and Terry isnโt content to watch from the sidelines. When word gets around about an important government experiment in the small town of Hawkins, she signs on as a test subject for the project, codenamed MKUltra. Unmarked vans, a remote lab deep in the woods, mind-altering substances administered by tightlipped researchers . . . and a mystery the young and restless Terry is determined to uncover.
But behind the walls of Hawkins National Laboratoryโand the piercing gaze of its director, Dr. Martin Brennerโlurks a conspiracy greater than she could have ever imagined. To face it, sheโll need the help of her fellow test subjects, including one so mysterious the world doesnโt know she existsโa young girl with unexplainable, superhuman powers and a number instead of a name: 008.
Amid the rising tensions of the new decade, Terry Ives and Martin Brenner have begun a different kind of warโone where the human mind is the battlefield.